Mexico is on edge. The collective hysteria has manifested itself in a spectacular split between spirit and flesh; Mexicans are simultaneously on spiritual and sexual quests. Mexico in recent years has been "re-sacrilized," experiencing a revival in both popular Catholicism (the Virgen de Guadalupe miraculously appears with increasing frequency these days, everywhere from migrant labor camps in the States to subway stops in Mexico City) and Pentecostalism, the insurgent evangelical brand of Christianity that is giving la Virgencita a run for Her money. At the same time, Mexico has been "re-sexualized," desire becoming the most obvious metaphor for la crisis in Mexico today.

Spirit, flesh: in the end the same quest, borne of a crumbling economy and identity. The single most apparent sign of crisis-sex is the proliferation in prostitution, an "outing" of what has always existed, but furtively. The government has officially admitted that it is impossible to rein in the sex trade; Mexico City is busy not busting working women and men, but formulating legal and health guidelines for sexworkers.

Also in-vogue is the idea of official red-light districts. In Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala, municipal authorities have created a city-within-a-city, replete with checkpoints for drugs and firearms, and strict health codes that include regular STD checks. But these measures can only help prevent what has not yet occurred.

AIDS has already arrived in Mexico, via tourists, and migrant men returning from their stints of work in the States, as well as having emerged from the very heart of the Mexican family, where the macho husband's liasons with other men are no longer a secret. Another sign is a shift away from the innocent dance-as-sex rituals toward the real thing.